Two Spirit Deconstruction

Pjila'si, welcome, come in, sit down. Welcome again to our sacred fire. Come closer, stay warm. Come in out of the deep cold of winter. There is a fire here that heats the heart and mind with memory, smiles, and laughter.

The Two Spirit way suggests that women, and especially our Grandmothers, are indeed at the heart of the Nation. It was the greatest honour for the Two Spirit male-bodied to serve the Grandmothers, and to assist the younger Women on their moon time. The men of the Nation upheld the Two Spirit great spiritual and practical helpers, extremely valuable to the tribe. This was not because of the skill of the Two Spirit individually. This was based on the respect for Women's Medicine being the First Medicine from which all people come.

Again, these teachings will be disputed and debated, and many will say they have no historical validity whatsoever. In all fairness, to say this may disregard the centrality of oral tradition. The reason why these stories are shared here is not to claim historical 'truth' per se, but to point a way forward in metaphor and narrative with a sense of integrity for the well-being of people today. These are actually stories of our survival and our cultural revival. As such there is a balance of values in a circle of values that places an historical heart-felt respect alongside a self-discerned cultural reflection on our past, present, and future as a people. This is a therapeutic process and ought to be empowering and uplifting.

To uphold women's sacred place among the people is to gain strength and to set a path toward healing, education, and social development. There is an actual therapeutic and social value to many of the claims in this book that are based in ethical and ecological principles. The insights may hold quite old seeds of hope and values that inspire courage, and that need to replant in today's family life. Elders say that our Ancestors are surely living in the next World and will help us understand and appreciate these teachings.

It could be that a male-bodied Two Spirit of high spiritual degrees was taken into women's Medicine, entrusted much like a modern day 'doctor' to care for women during their moon time, or when they were ill, or dealing with physical challenges. In other words, what people do is not who people are. Being male-bodied might be part of who a person is, but from the Native view what the person does cannot be confused with body per se. The two are like comparing the nature of an Ash tree with the fact that many trees have leaves or needles. One suggests an identification of a species of tree, the other is about the nature of many trees and trees in general. Being of a male-body or female-body expresses whole groups of trees but really tells us very little about the nature of the person and their spirit that inhabits the body. In this sense, gender as we see things in the modern world is obtuse, crude, and reductive. Modern gender theory cannot adequately hold the rich cultural deposit of Mi'kmaw cosmology.

In the older traditional cultural sense, and not unque to the First Nations, identity rests in metaphors of relationships rather than in an objectified definition and so this inner sense of identity actually shifts, changes, grows, and manifests differently - even over one's lifetime Hence to speak of gender does a disservice in one sense, even while the idea of gender today provides a generic and global-type meaning to the nature of all trees, so to speak.

Likewise, a gifted healer can arise in the community in any form, with any range of (non)gerdered or sexual identity characteristics. We cannot easily apply the rather boxed-in labels we use today to describe and understand the past, especially within another culture. We Mi'kmaq can be humble enough to remind ourselves that the past is like a foreign country. We are not such gifted seers to know exactly how people lived and what they believed in a time before our time.

Yet our traditional beliefs are quite dynamic. Experience of life has taught me that the Sacred Medicine and Dreaming are not dead and can be revived by people today. This does not make for a complete cultural reconstruction, because we are not willing to impose experiences and beliefs on the past. We can be quite prepared to take responsibility for our beliefs today as reflecting personal lived experience. We can admit life today may have an arm's length relationship with the historical past, or what little we actually know about that past. This connection of arms-length relation with the past is actually about respect for many Native people. This remains closely connected to our heart.

In our experience of women's Medicine, the First Medicine, Mother Earth Medicine, we acknowledge the ancient and enduring power of the spiritual and temporal laws that govern the universe of the Mi'kmaq - and all people of this planet. This Medicine holds the origins and methods of the sacred elements of earth, wind, fire, and water. But for you to know this, you need to actually practice the Medicine Ceremonies. You need to live in the sacred circle during seasonal times, and during sunrise ceremony. You need to stand by your Elder Grandmother holding her Ancient Sea Turtle Medicine Shell that was handed down from generation to generation in her family line, given when the time was right to the next Grandmother of the line whose task was to carry this Sacred Gift and Responsibility. You cannot judge these teachings until live them in some way.These elements or ecologies are Living Beings who influence our lives even today, especially today. We ignore these laws to our own demise. These teachings are not foreign to contemporary ecological sciences, which study the wholistic ways of our culture to gain new insights that move beyond the limited worldviews of the past generations of European traditions.

We ought to acknowledge that the dignity of the Mi'kmaq Two Spirit rests on the inherent dignity of women. This is also true of the woman Two Spirit, whose path may be to embrace male Medicine teachings and practices. Yet also true many of the female-bodied Two Spirit explore another layer of the feminine arts and provide another Gift to the people, both to men and women of the nation.

Now if you place all these ideas together, you will realise exactly why the newcomer on Mi'kmaw soil have taken so long to understand and respect the deeply spiritual ways of our People. The European was threatened by the Mi'kmaq Nation's way of life precisely because of how we respected Women's Medicine, children's rightful place at the centre of culture and life, and the highly important place of Elders among our People.

If you look at these three members of the European family these are the very ones who have gained all the attention in western social movements over the past few centuries and decades. But don't expect mainstream people to give Native people any credit, even though we have often been the lone witnesses to equality and ethics over the past 500 years.

With these insights we have shared it should be no surprise how threatening the Aboriginal culture was to the men who walked off their flouting islands. They saw 'savages' precisely because women, children, and elder Grandmothers were at the heart of the Nation. To their feeble minds this could only mean an inferior people. Because in their cultural way, women, children, and the elderly were expendable commodities. Women were sold on the slave trade, bought through contracts of marriage, and used as pawni of governors, kings, and despots. They could not possibly understand that the complex cultural web of Mi'kmaw society linked the roles of women, children, and elders within a profound law of respect within a wholistic cosmology and spiritual way of life. Most did not look long enough to learn

Song Lines and Medicine Trails

This leads me to conclude that today's youth and adults are setting a pathway forward with integrity and justice in mind for Two Spirit youth. Because of the contemporary evolution of the Two Spirit movement across the tribes of North America, today there is a growing and vibrant community who identify as Mi'kmaq Two Spirit. This is a new and exciting time for many. We are reviving the tribe and bringing home the Medicines. We are awakening what feels like ancient Song Lines, dances, and teachings that bring forward age-old visions of how we wish to live in peace and harmony.

In the contemporary Two Spirit Mi'kmaw body rests the blood of many nations. These bloodlines sing out for reconciliation. This Song Line is sung with Sacred Medicine Pipe during this 14th generation. This is the White Moose Medicine Path given birth among us during these times.

Like many of our cousins and many our age, this 14th generation carries a deep disquiet. On one hand we are disturbed by the memories of injustice done by the wars of the past that created this fragile country of Canada. may be that today we seek a new path that honours and respects native rights, regardless of the implications to national systems and corporate interests.

On the other hand, people today are more informed. Information technology assists and social media allows people to share the facts about our history. New forms of social and political governance need to rely on all forms of information, all cultures ought to be part of this dialogue. And clearly Indigenous cultures have the most to offer of all world cultures simply because our connections to the land and sea are entirely oriented toward sustainability.

We all, regardless our origins, have within our bodies a rather strong genetic memory of justice. It is not rocket science to see these past colonial wrong doings that are sustained and repeated by today's Indian Act in Canada, and corporate decisions and policies, and by the Australian governmental approaches to land rights and employment. Social welfare systems in Australia, Canada, and other commonwealth nations are still governed by anti-Indigenous values.

Children are still taken out of Indigenous communities, disconnected from their culture and extended families. How can anyone allow this to continue?

No doubt that we all carry in our body the pain of the past fourteen generations of colonisation. All people must awaken to acknowledge that these patterns relate to our mental health and well-being. We must acknowledge that unless we do something now, our children and grandchildren will continue to carry these injustices in the form of sickness and spiritual crisis.

Now is the time to awaken. We call upon the Four Sacred Directions. In Power we Raise the Sacred Mi'kmaq Nation Pipe and call upon Kitpu L'nui- npisun, Eagle with the Medicine. We send forth the Sacred Smoke to the Eastern Door, before the Rising of Dawn, when all the People still sleep. We pray for Spirits of Light to be Strong. As Mi'kmaq Medicine Keepers we bring the integrity of our Lives Today into the Sacred Circle. As Two Spirit People with Medicine we Walk Home. We stand in Unity with Ancestors whose Spirits are Strong and Sure. We are one People. Regardless our differences. We are Mi'kmaq. L'nuk. The People. Stand with us.

Msit No'kmaq - All My Relations

Pjila'si, welcome, come in, sit down. Welcome again to our sacred fire. Come closer, stay warm. Many grow weary in the cold winter, and many come to the fire for warmth. This is a natural part of human life. We need one another to stay healthy. We two-legged need the trees, and wood of the fire, more than any tree needs our help. This teaches respect.

Whitehead's (2002, pp. 148-152) book recounts the medicine tales of Jerry Lonecloud. As just one example of fragments of Two Spirit wisdom that may remain hidden within the ancient stories of our people, this short clip from one of Lonecloud's tales provides a wealth of untapped possibilities. Reading and listening to the stories of our people can reawaken hearts and provide parched minds with nourishment.

Lonecloud says that 'Kluskap was a doctor or a medicine man, and he grew his medicine in his garden. Kluscap was great with all things, but a great medicine man...' We have known a few medicine keepers in our lifetime who have taught us many things about the value of herbal lore. The thirst for experiential knowledge of growing and tending plants has been a great inspiration over the years and led to exploring eastern Canadian and Australian herbal wisdom.

The link between Kluscap as cultural hero, medicine keeper, and herbalist are important when understanding the Puoinaq Two Spirit phenomena. In many ways, these lessons provide the skills necessary for transformative action.

In Lonecloud's words, there were 'five great warriors' who 'went on to see Kluscap.' The number five may seem important as the associations are many, including with the five points of the human body. The men in the tale may represent the complete diversity of humanity.

Also significant, Lonecloud suggests that, "This is the last time Kluscap was seen by the Mi'kmaq...' This implies the importance of the tale to some degree, if not to also suggest that the age of Kluscap had somehow come to an end. Something we Mi'kmaq people may one day challenge.

As the men spoke their wish, Kluscap imagined ways to accomplish. One man was named Ksu'skw. Lonecloud says that, 'Kluscap took Ksu'skw out of his camp and stood him alongside of Nimoqinuk. Ksu'skw became a hemlock tree' (Whitehead 2002, pp. 148-152).

Quite beside the fact that the male identified in Lonecloud's last tale of Kluscap holds a gender variant name with the suffix 'skw' meaning woman, the more telling layers of the story recall the meanings associated with the Eastern Hemlock tree. Kluscap being identified by Lonecloud as a great herbalist and Medicine Keeper is significant. Clearly there may be important lessons to be learned from study of herbal wisdom. From many other sources including our memory of learning herbal lore over the years, Hemlock holds a particularly powerful place among the trees of Mi'kma'ki or eastern Canada.

Hemlock was commonly used to line beds for sleeping on the bare earth as it provided a great deal of warmth in the wigwam. Hemlock was also used to line the walls of the wigwam. Hemlock bark is named in other Mi'kmaq tales as providing good heat in the fire. These meanings suggest that the full embrace of the Hemlock provided the Mi'kmaq with a great deal of warmth. Hemlock tea is also of common usage, as it provides for high quantities of vitamin C and allows one to overcome the cold. Thus, the herb was used internally as well as externally in a number of ways.

As the story provides only male warriors, one of the hidden meanings might be homosocial. Keeping warm at night may then be associated with Ksu'skw which is a curious if not funny allusion. Likewise, Hemlock is associated with magical properties of transformation. One story from memory is associated with Water Fairies who could change into Weasels and into the brides of Stars.

The Hemlock is mentioned as a kind of World Tree by which Spirits move between the World of the Stars to the Earth World. The Hemlock needle kept in one's personal Medicine Pouch or pocket is considered an important talesman and form of magic power. In certain tales singing to the Hemlock needle provides powers of safety, transformation, and regeneration. Again, stories suggest an internal usage, even in vomit arising from the person, suggesting that what is internal becomes external much like taking tea into the body provides a form of change in energy and power.

Naturally we cannot presume to name or know the meanings of the tale from Lonecloud. Nor can these other tales be directly associated with Two Spirit phenomena. And certainly, funny as it seems, the Hemlock tree cannot be directly made into a Two Spirit symbol nor the beginnings of a queer herbal. Equally strange, in all truth the possibilities of metaphor are endless. And in Mi'kmaq traditional ways and medicine stories there are not a few poignant metaphors that are actually intentionally deployed by storytellers to enable youth and others to awaken to new levels of awareness, diverse associations, and creative outcomes that may never have been considered before.

This very epistemology of discovery and celebration of diversity in creation is central to the Mi'kmaq language, storytelling traditions, and cultural values. It is not that farfetched to discern gender and sexuality variant meanings in ancient tales that have, until this time, remained largely limited by colonial heteronormative cultures.

Likewise, the current generation needs to awaken more so to the fact that the storytelling tradition is not part of the past. Stories must be reawakened, reclaimed, and stories will continue to have a life of their own. Every generation is required to give rise to storytellers who continue this spirituality of culture and ecology of metaphor. It just may be that Kluscap will reappear to the people again. Creation of the worlds is not a finished affair, and the ways that we grow are continual and vital.

Story as Medicine

This chapter introduces another sacred medicine story from the Two Spirit tradition. Like all stories of the People, this one arises from ancient teachings and present-day story telling through culturally infused practices.

As a story keeper we seek to reconnect with the truths and metaphors that speak power over the lives of largely marginalized peoples. We find story- keeping kin with medicine-keeping. Both are part of the sacred business. Both give rise to women's knowing and men's knowing.

There are layers of ceremonial specialisations that sometimes overlap and that seek to draw forward harmony, healing, and strength in people's ways of being. Relationships and families are strengthened by these methods. Story is like the work of fire-keepers, because stories warm our hearts. They give the heart inner light and meaning. They show purpose and ways forward. They are a step away from the sacred dreaming of our Ancestors, so can lead us into states of calm, quiet, rest, and sleep. This is healing.

Stories are one of the central methods of helping Two Spirit youth that also need empowerment, recovery, and reawakening. This is why this particular story is so very powerful. And why the sacred word for power and Two Spirit goes hand in hand. An astute counsellor or teacher or helper will use stories in therapy or education or at just that right moment, to not impose an ideology but rather to convey open-ended and deeper meanings that actually allow the youth or person who is seeking to find their own answers. Stories are our medicine.

As for the potency of stories, it cannot be underestimated as to the power of cultural reawakening. But equally potent are the tides of prejudice, racism, violence, colonial values, and the dark side of the politics of gender and sexuality that in fact constitute central interwoven characteristics within the colonial and western cultures. These frames of mind and heart override many of the sacred traditions, sidestep and render minority other ways of knowing, and systematically if not indirectly oppress and condone oppression. This is the nature of western and imperial constitutions that govern everything from church canon law to corporate and civic law.

Central to these systems is the notion of automatically enrolled and the marked absence of opt out. Enrolment in the system is presumed and ratified by the constitutional nature of things. Opt-out as an option is often not provided by this system. Thus, for many individuals, groups, or whole populations and nations, opting out, by the very nature of the constitutional definitions themselves that disallow freedom and human rights, becomes a political, cultural, social, and economic project and a necessity. This option to opt out can be expressed in a multitude of ways, from subtle to overt, from passive social means to full on conflict and war. Yet in the heart of the matter, from our perspective as therapists and educators working across cultures identity is central to universal human rights that are best upheld and respected.

Stories assist in understanding these dynamics of social and political life. Two Spirit people are among the most misunderstood segment of minority populations, carrying double and triple forms of stigma. As such, there is a great confusion about the nature of Two Spirit identity and purpose. This essay seeks to provide a narrative and culturally based form of teaching while allowing the reader to learn from the deeper meanings hidden within the story itself. This is part of our tradition. This is how we learn. A multi- layered approach given to paradox, profound association, and spiritual teaching.